The upgrade by SKF/Lincoln of a lubrication store at Durban Harbour has boosted bearing life and machine availability, subsequently delivering significant cost savings for a key customer who is involved in sugar storage for mostly export purposes.
The customer was concerned over their lubrication practices and general procedures and, having heard about the lube audit through a SKF authorised distributor who was servicing them, requested more information. The SKF/Lincoln team was subsequently called in to conduct a Customer Needs Analysis (CNA)-Lube audit at three sugar terminals at Durban Harbour.
The audit identified the customer’s lubrication store as an area of serious concern. According to SKF Product Manager – MaPro, Eddie Martens, the audit raised flags around extremely high contamination risks. “Alongside a lack of organisation, the absence of dedicated dispensing tools compromised dispensing procedures as the customer had no control over lube dispensing; this was also resulting in costly wastage. Additional areas of high concern were contamination and cross-contamination of oils as well as the inadvisable practice of working on a first-in-first-out principal for the lubricants, especially when it came to the lubricants used for servicing the fleet of wheel loaders.”
Read the full press release here.
